Joni Mitchell: Classic or Dud

Fuckin pentagrams on the postage stamps!

I guess the Guess Who only got a logo on theirs too because how could you fit both Randy AND Burton on to one postage stamp?

https://i.imgur.com/q6CciS7.gif

With the Roxy tour and Miles comeback box, we've been discussing their 80s---here's one for JM's: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/sep/27/joni-mitchells-80s-how-the-canadian-songwriter-became-a-fearless-futurist-auteur

There's an alternate-history Joni timeline where she ended up duetting with Joe Cocker on Up Where We Belong, so we should be thankful for what we got in the 80s.

Funny how the Guardian article inadvertently reproduces the assumption that Turbulent Indigo was her 'return to form' even in the act of critiquing that notion. 'Night Ride Home' is like 'hey, I'm right here.'

Yeah. could have used an editor's queries here and there---mainly though, did seem timely, what with the 80s of Roxy and Miles being discussed on here, and the new Miles box.

(And I've never having heard most of her 80s albs, am curious now--what's good, bad?)

I also don't think anybody would say that Joni Mitchell "towered over" the 60s.

The better songs on those 80s records took a long time to reveal themselves. I heard them at the time they came out but, even more than her 70s music, it's probably hard for a teenage boy to understand what she's getting at.

(And I've never having heard most of her 80s albs, am curious now--what's good, bad?)

Here's a list I made on another thread:

Post-1980 POX, chronological order:

Chinese Café
You Dream Flat Tires
Good Friends
Impossible Dreamer
My Secret Place
The Beat of Black Wings
Passion Play
Man From Mars
Stay In Touch
Facelift

Nothing from Turbulent Indigo (too chilly) or Shine (uninspired).

What's bad from this era are a lot of finger-pointing songs about societal ills and the media. She'd written songs like this throughout her career, but at this point they became scolding and self-righteous.

today I learned Joni tunes to 446 Hz because of her Irish heritage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vbr78krY9hI

I don't mind scolding and self-righteous when (a) the arrangements and singing are compelling ("Fiction," "Sex Kills," "Dog Eat Dog") (b) I agree with the targets of her scolding and self-righteousness.

xp: corrs unplugged - that youtube is showing as "not available" for me. what's the title?

Oh, regional thing I imagine. That's "Just Like This Train (Live 1995)" from the new (?) Stars to Read live album (which is a nice listen)

I just heard "Paprika Plains" for the first time in quite a while. What an epic tune.

Nazareth's "This Flight Tonight" is really something:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylW6sC6NNhY

Not to go all Steve Hoffman forum but the recent remasters of the first batch of her Asylum albums sound really great, especially The Hissing of Summer Lawns, they breathe new life into the records I've known for so long (and I usually don't pay attention to this stuff). Can't wait for the reissues of freshened up Hejira / DJRD / Mingus / Shadows & Light; hopefully the second part will be released sooner than later.

I really like the remastered Hissing, but I'm so used to the way the (up until now) existing version sounded, very soft like on cassette found in a dusty old car, that it's a little destabilizing to listen to.

I do enjoy hearing those extra details (not to get Hoffman either) things like the edits in and out of Centrepiece being more noticeable now are gonna take a bit of getting used to.

fremer didn't love the remastering (not to get all steve hoffman forum).

https://trackingangle.com/music/joni-mitchell-locked-in-asylum-box

The HDCDs which became the standard issues in about 2005 all sound good to me, but I can’t speak for vinyl issues.

I don't think anyone will mistake this for the Hoffman forum until some right wing nut jumps in and attacks her for some moronic reason. (ex: "Joni Mitchell hates freedom of speech, too?")

The HDCDs came out in the '90s. I was used to those versions and always thought they sounded excellent, but was unusually bowled over by the new vinyl Hissing. (The CD set of the Asylum albums reportedly duplicates a track on Court and Spark due to an indexing error.)

Yeah, Same Situation is repeated, I wonder if they've sorted that yet.

couldn’t have happened to a more fitting song

I finally listened to Dog Eat Dog a fortnight ago and was a bit disappointed as I went in expecting a lot more disjointed (and uptempo) MIDI frippery than I got. The Three Great Stimulants is a real keeper though. And Smokin' (live musique concrete?)

"Fiction" is my keeper: the one time she and the technology are in sync. That sampled EWWW after each example of fiction in the chorus works.

Oh yeah I enjoy that song - and that touch - a lot as well. That was more what I was wanting (maybe my way of saying more like Landing on Water).

The Gershwin Prize:

Among the night’s performers were Mitchell’s former partner Graham Nash, her longtime friend James Taylor, and Brandi Carlile, who is spearheading Mitchell’s big show this summer at the Gorge in George, Washington. Cyndi Lauper led a large group of artists through “Big Yellow Taxi,” while Annie Lennox sang “Both Sides Now.” Marcus Mumford, Diana Krall, Herbie Hancock, Ledisi, and Angélique Kidjo also performed. And at the end of the night, Mitchell herself took the stage to sing Gershwin’s “Summertime” and her own “The Circle Game.” Check out footage from the night below via the CBC and the Associated Press, including performance clips and interviews.

Why is Nash a "former partner" and Taylor a "longtime friend"?

because everybody digs joni.

she never lies iirc

What happened to the two cats in the yard, huh?

They paved paradise, put up a parking lot.

More proof that two heads are better than one.

Coyote picked 'em up.

So the night after the Gershwin Prize taping at the Library of Congress, my wife attended the Joni Mitchell discussion there with the Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden. Joni sang a bit of "Summertime" and "The Circle Game" again. Afterwards my wife is standing outside on the sidewalk glancing at a video on her phone she took of the event. A woman starts chatting to her about the event and Joni Mitchell. It was a Library of Congress special board member and singer Natalie Merchant

Cool, what did they say about that?

"I think Joni was their generation's George Michael! Wouldn't you agree Natalie?"

That's it, exactly.

small talk about enjoying the show, then other stuff - Merchant working on an environmental doc

"I was a free man in Paris."

That's George, I think.

"Marcie's sorrow needs a man," pretty much recited, a warm formula: she needs love/to get laid: this, along with whatever Marcie herself means, as well as can be recalled, about red means this, green means that, as her disquieting sadness or depression or whatever it is thins out the bonds of friendship, of connection---the singer says that someone said they'd seen her somewhere---of knowing, of meaning, of thought and whatever---against thee big gray 1968 sky container of xpost early pressing and original master: (this may not be it, but posted 7 years ago, and seems like it or reasonably close):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTcbhwA02fM

Dammit---that's fab, but this is the right link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQfubxNVljw

From last night, here's Annie Lennox telling Joni how she first learned about her music before performing "Ladies of the Canyon."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYT2vG279IE

(same user has some more videos from the show)

The latest concert: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jun/11/joni-mitchell-review-gorge-amphitheatre-quincy-washington

Lindsay Z. sez:

... a recognition seemed to ripple through the crowd: Mitchell’s voice had grown even stronger, richer and nimbler in the year since those Newport videos went viral. In that previous performance, Carlile had often guided Mitchell or taken on lead vocal duties herself. But at the Gorge, Mitchell was once again in control.

Yeah, that's the one bird posted vids from---thanks!

Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 3: The Asylum Years (1972-1975)
Out October 6, 2023 On 5CD / Digital & 4LP Versions

Shines A Revelatory Spotlight On Her Prolific Peak From 1972–1975

Latest In GRAMMY-Winning, Multi-Volume Journey Through Joni’s Previously Unmined Archives

Includes Never-Before-Heard Demos, Early & Alternate Versions of Classic Songs, Historical Performances, and 40-Page Book Featuring Photos & Conversation With Joni & Cameron Crowe

Includes Sessions With James Taylor, Neil Young & Tom Scott & the L.A. Express

LOS ANGELES — Come 1972, Joni Mitchell’s singular songwriting talent and poetic gifts were undeniable. Fresh off the back-to-back Platinum-certified releases of 1970’s Ladies of the Canyon and 1971’s Blue — totemic albums whose artfulness and ubiquity would influence generations of songwriters — Mitchell had grown wary of mounting media scrutiny. Everything from her style choices to romantic partners became the subject of far more gossip column inches than were ever dedicated to the lifestyle minutiae of her male counterparts.

In response, she had pulled back, announcing an early retirement from the stage in 1970 and moving to the quiet expanses of British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast. It was a fruitful change of scenery. Inspired by her proximity to nature and refreshed by the peaceful seclusion, she began constructing the songs that would become For The Roses. This respite thrust Mitchell into a remarkably fertile creative period, yielding a run of albums — 1972’s For The Roses, 1974’s Court And Spark, and 1975’s The Hissing Of Summer Lawns — that would simultaneously expand and refine the scope of her music. Her adventurous, intricate arrangements and growing formidability as a bandleader injected these songs with a clarity of purpose, a potent muscularity, and a sense of possibility — it is among the most exciting eras of a near peerless career.

This era comes into even greater focus on Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 3: The Asylum Years (1972-1975), out October 6, 2023 on Rhino Records. It’s the latest entry in Rhino’s ongoing, GRAMMY-winning series exploring the vast untapped archives of rare Joni Mitchell recordings — a project guided intimately by Mitchell’s own vision and personal touch. Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 3: The Asylum Years (1972-1975) will be available both in a 5CD / digital version and a 4LP cut-down version, both with an accompanying book featuring photos and a conversation about this period between Joni Mitchell and longtime friend Cameron Crowe.

Pre-orders are available at jonimitchell.com.

As Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963-1967) — which won a 2022 GRAMMY Award for Best Historical Album — and Vol. 2: The Reprise Years (1968-1971) did, Vol. 3 boasts an embarrassment of riches. The collection begins with an early cut of “Cold Blue Steel And Sweet Fire,” one of two songs (along with “For The Roses”) test-driven during a visit to a Graham Nash David Crosby recording session at Wally Heider’s in Hollywood.

From there, listeners are treated to early demos and alternate versions from sessions from For The Roses, Court & Spark, and The Hissing Of Summer Lawns; historic live show recordings, including the entirety of Mitchell’s triumphant 1972 return to Carnegie Hall and a definitive gig with her Court And Spark backing band Tom Scott & the L.A. Express; and tracks from sessions cut alongside James Taylor, Graham Nash, and Neil Young.

Alongside today’s announcement, Rhino shares an early demo of Court And Spark’s “Help Me,” a track that would go on to be Joni Mitchell’s biggest ever chart and radio hit. While the official version is assured and sophisticated, this newly unveiled demo shows the song’s rawer, original form.

Listen to “Help Me” (demo) here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx1UBDNzyLw

As she approaches her 80th birthday later this year, Joni Mitchell is reaffirming the vitality and resonance of her music. Last month, she released At Newport, a live album commemorating her incredible comeback performance at the 2022 Newport Folk Festival. Pitchfork described it as “a joyous surprise, a moment of wonder,” while NPR Music says it “shows Mitchell's legacy in action and how younger generations of musicians carry forth her spirit of imagination and fearless reconfiguration.”

Back in June, Mitchell held her first ticketed performance in over 20 years at a sold-out Gorge Amphitheatre in Quincy, WA. Rolling Stone called it “The triumph of the human spirit we all desperately craved…a powerful celebration of Mitchell’s life and resiliency.”

JONI MITCHELL ARCHIVES VOL. 3: THE ASYLUM YEARS (1972 TO 1975)

Full Track Listing

D One:

Graham Nash David Crosby Session

Wally Heider Studios, Hollywood, CA, Dec. 13, 1971

1. Cold Blue Steel And Sweet Fire
2. For The Roses

For The Roses Demos

A&M Studios, Hollywood, CA, late 1971 / early 1972

3. Banquet
4. Lesson In Survival
5. Like Veils Said Lorraine
6. See You Sometime

Live at Carnegie Hall

New York City, NY, Feb. 23, 1972

7. This Flight Tonight
8. Electricity
9. Cold Blue Steel And Sweet Fire
10. Big Yellow Taxi
11. Blue
12. For Free
13. Banquet
14. All I Want
15. Intro to A Case Of You
16. A Case Of You
17. Intro to Carey
18. Carey
19. Lesson In Survival
20. Woodstock
21. Intro to You Turn Me On I’m A Radio
22. You Turn Me On I’m A Radio
23. Intro to For The Roses
24. For The Roses

CD Two:

Live at Carnegie Hall [cont.]

New York City, NY, Feb. 23, 1972

1. Both Sides Now
2. My Old Man
3. Intro to The Circle Game
4. The Circle Game

For The Roses Early Sessions

Wally Heider Studios, Hollywood, CA, Apr. 16-21, 1972

5. Medley: Bony Moronie/Summertime Blues/You Never Can Tell - with James Taylor
6. Electricity - with James Taylor
7. You Turn Me On I’m A Radio - with Neil Young & The Stray Gators
8. See You Sometime (early version with bass & drums)
9. You Turn Me On I’m A Radio (early version with bass & drums)

Live at Royal Festival Hall

London, England, May 5, 1972

10. Intro to Judgement Of The Moon And Stars (Ludwig’s Tune)
11. Judgement Of The Moon And Stars (Ludwig’s Tune)

For The Roses Sessions

A&M Studios, Hollywood, CA, Jul-Aug, 1972

12. Blonde In The Bleachers (alternate guitar mix)
13. Let The Wind Carry Me (piano/vocal mix)
14. Barangrill (guitar/vocal mix)
15. Cold Blue Steel And Sweet Fire (sax guide vocal)
16. Sunrise Raga
17. Twisted (early alternate version)

James Bay Benefit Concert

Paul Sauvé Arena, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Apr. 15, 1973

18. Intro to Big Yellow Taxi
19. Big Yellow Taxi

CD Three:

Court And Spark Demos

A&M Studios, Hollywood, CA, Summer 1973

1. Piano Suite:
a. Down To You
b. Court And Spark
c. Car On A Hill
d. Down To You

2. People’s Parties
3. Help Me
4. Just LIke This Train
5. Raised On Robbery
6. Trouble Child

Wild Tales [Graham Nash] Session

Rudy Records Studios, San Francisco, CA, Aug. 25, 1973

7. Raised On Robbery (early working version)
8. Raised On Robbery – with Neil Young & The Santa Monica Flyers

Court And Spark Sessions

A&M Studios, Hollywood, CA, Sep.-Oct., 1973

9. People’s Parties (early alternate take)
10. Trouble Child (early alternate take)
11. Car On A Hill (early alternate take)
12. Down To You (alternate version)
13. The Same Situation (alt vocal/piano mix)
14. Bonderia

Live at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion

Los Angeles, CA, Mar. 3, 1974

15. Introduction
16. This Flight Tonight – with Tom Scott & The L.A. Express
17. You Turn Me On I’m A Radio – with Tom Scott & The L.A. Express
18. Free Man In Paris – with Tom Scott & The L.A. Express
19. The Same Situation – with Tom Scott & The L.A. Express
20. Just Like This Train – with Tom Scott & The L.A. Express

CD Four:

Live at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion [cont.]

Los Angeles, CA, Mar. 3, 1974

1. Rainy Night House – with Tom Scott & The L.A. Express
2. Woodstock – with Tom Scott & The L.A. Express
3. Cactus Tree
4. Big Yellow Taxi
5. Intro to People’s Parties
6. People’s Parties
7. All I Want
8. A Case Of You
9. Intro to For The Roses
10. For The Roses
11. Cold Blue Steel And Sweet Fire – with Tom Scott
12. Blue
13. For Free – with Tom Scott
14. Trouble Child – with Tom Scott & The L.A. Express
15. Help Me – with Tom Scott & The L.A. Express
16. Car On A Hill – with Tom Scott & The L.A. Express

CD Five:

Live at New Victoria Theatre

London, England, Apr. 22, 1974

1. Intro to Jericho
2. Jericho

Live at Wembley Stadium

London, England, Sep. 14, 1974

3. Woman Of Heart And Mind

The Hissing Of Summer Lawns Demos

A&M Studios, Hollywood, CA, 1975

4. In France They Kiss On Main Street
5. Edith And The Kingpin
6. Don’t Interrupt The Sorrow
7. Shades Of Scarlet Conquering
8. The Boho Dance
9. Harry’s House
10. Dreamland

The Hissing Of Summer Lawns Sessions

A&M Studios, Hollywood, CA, 1975

11. In France They Kiss On Main Street (alternate version)
12. The Jungle Line (guitar/alternate vocal)
13. Edith And The Kingpin (alternate version)
14. Don’t Interrupt The Sorrow (alternate version)
15. Shades Of Scarlet Conquering (alternate version)
16. The Boho Dance (alternate version)
17. Dreamland (early alternate band version)

looks incredible

this is the one. can't wait.